The Gunflint Trail

Get out in the woods! Spend a day [or more] traveling this 57-mile National Scenic Byway up over the ridgeline and through the woods, it provides access to gorgeous boreal lakes and forests, leads to resorts and outfitters, skirts the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and culminates at a campground. Nearby Chikwauk Museum tells the story of the Gunflint Trail.

Things to do in Gunflint Trail

Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center

28 Moose Pond Drive | Grand Marais, MN 55604

Housed in the historic Chik-Wauk Lodge on beautiful Saganaga Lake, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center presents the area’s cultural and natural history through interpretive and interactive exhibits. Learn about the Gunflint Trail’s prehistoric beginnings and people who helped shape today’s… see more

Housed in the historic Chik-Wauk Lodge on beautiful Saganaga Lake, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center presents the area’s cultural and natural history through interpretive and interactive exhibits. Learn about the Gunflint Trail’s prehistoric beginnings and people who helped shape today’s unique, rural community, including Native Americans, Voyageurs, miners, loggers, resort owners and current residents.

Stops Along the Way

Drive the Trail (mile marker 110.0+)

Hop in your car and head due north! Drive up, up, up the hill to Pincushion Mountain overlook and take in the wide-open views of Lake Superior and Grand Marais. Continue on, admiring the virgin white pines at 9.5 miles, then stop at 24 miles, just past the Brule River [not South Brule River] for the 0.5-mile round trip Moose Viewing hike on the left/FR 316 is on the right]. Another 5 miles brings you to trail center shops and dining. Another 15 miles and you will be entering blueberry territory, then the final leg to end of the Trail Campground and Chikwauk Museum.

Paddle & Fish (mile marker 110.0+)

Bring your canoe, boat and motor, or kayak or call an outfitter and rent one. Paddle any of the lakes. Drop a line and try for walleye, northern, rainbow, splake, smallmouth bass, and lake trout.

Shop & Dine (mile marker 110.0+)

Shop the cluster of stores mid-trail near Poplar Lake, on the south side of Gunflint Lake, and near the end of trail. Dine at any of the restaurants along the way.

Hike (mile marker 110.0+)

Hike to Magnetic Rock [pictured above], a favorite 3.1-mile round-trip hike past a pond, through a blueberry patch, through the forest recovering from the 2007 Ham Lake Fire and up an easy ascent to this 60-foot magnetic rock. Bring a compass and see what happens!
Drive 47.0 miles north on the Gunflint Trail to the parking area on the right